


eyes open, chin up

by asuiah



Series: WIP Series [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Blessed Senju Tobirama, Divine Protection, F/F, F/M, Founding of Konoha, M/M, Protective Senju Hashirama, Protective Senju Tobirama, Senju Tobirama Needs a Hug, Senju Tobirama-centric, Warring States Period (Naruto), very short first chapter/prologue
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:42:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24143011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asuiah/pseuds/asuiah
Summary: “Are you afraid to die?”(He dreams of being enveloped in a great, churning sea. He dreams of thunder overhead, lightning on his tongue, ozone on his breath, the waves reaching out with great sea-foam hands. He hears the call of a whale, the pull of a cyclone, the whoosh of a great tsunami, feels the embrace of a god.As he wakes, the ocean calls out to him.)
Relationships: Senju Hashirama & Senju Tobirama, Senju Itama & Senju Tobirama, Senju Kawarama & Senju Tobirama, Senju Tobirama & Senju Touka, Senju Tobirama & Uchiha Hikaku, Senju Tobirama & Uchiha Izuna, Senju Tobirama & Uchiha Kagami, Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
Series: WIP Series [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1734895
Comments: 5
Kudos: 128





	eyes open, chin up

_“Are you afraid to die?”_

Itama had asked Tobirama that once, his voice small and trembling, his chakra shivering like a stunned rabbit. He’d crept into his room with silent feet on the night of Kawarama’s funeral, pale and red-eyed and seeking comfort, seeking stability. Hashirama had disappeared as he tended to do, escaping from the tense atmosphere that clouded the clan without even a word between them.

“Of course,” Tobirama had answered, but it had not entirely been true. Itama’s eyes locked with his, already so pained despite his youth, tired in a way they shouldn’t have been, shiny with tears. 

Itama had always been more soft-hearted, much like mother in that aspect. At the funeral, he’d wept with his face hidden behind his sleeve, because Shinobi did not cry. Tobirama had stood silent, still and stiff next to Itama and Hashirama, because being a sensor was just as much of a curse as it was a benefit, and if he’d moved he might’ve just fallen apart right then and there.

Are you afraid to die? That’s what Itama had asked him.

_No_ , he thought, as his little brother curled against him, warm and alive. He remembers Kawarama’s body. Grit. Bone. Chunks of dyed tissue. The taste of bile, acid on his tongue. An endless ocean of blood. Kawarama’s chakra, growing smaller, pulsing with fear as it fades. Hashirama’s screams.

(Kawarama had died _scared_.)

No, death did not frighten Tobirama as much as what it could take from him.


End file.
